Etna

That isn't Mount Etna in the top picture, it's just the site of a side eruption through a vent on the slopes of the great mountain. Most volcanoes are far more complicated than the infantile notion of a cone shaped hill with an opening at the top from which red hot molten lava occasionally flows.

Mount Etna in the north east of Sicily is the biggest active volcano in Europe. Steam  was issuing from the peak as we approached it from the south. The mountain's current altitude is 11.014 feet and its basal circumference is 87 miles. It covers an area of 459 square miles. It is certainly a big sucker.

Our hotel was sixty miles south of Etna. We boarded the tour coach at 8.15 in the morning, joining Italian and French tourists before bombing along the coastal motorway to the suburbs of the city of Catania. Then we climbed upwards along winding roads passing hundreds of humble blocks of flats where most of the ordinary citizens of Catania seem to live. Then we were passing through woodland and fertile farmland before reaching vast charcoal-coloured lava fields. By the way, our time-served tour guide was a fellow called Giovanni but more of him on another day.

At one point I spotted a small church that had been overwhelmed by a lava flow in the nineteen eighties and of course if we had been in a hire car we would have stopped to take photos of it but we were on a bus heading to the ski resort of Sapienza Refuge. There there are shops and restaurants and within easy walking distance are three or four impressive vents that we could plod around. The mannequin playing the flute was snapped at the door of one of the tourist shops.

Above you can see Crateri Silvestri which was created by the volcano in the 1890's I believe. Next to it is the Ristorante Crateri Silvestri where Shirley and I enjoyed  simple lunches of spaghetti with mixed salad, local red wine and sparkling water. Delightful. See below...

By a wall, using simple tools, I saw this young man making a carving from a chunk of the lava rock...

The image below shows the same vent pictured at the top but without any zoom on the camera. It was interesting to see how after a few years new vegetation begins to establish itself in the unpromising cooled lava and volcanic grit.

There was a lot more of Etna to see above Sapienza Refuge. In effect we were only half way up the mountain. There was a cable car to take you higher and 4x4 vehicles too but we only had three hours to spend there and we were quite satisfied with the experience. Back on the coach at two in the afternoon, it was time to head to Taormina. As clouds began to sheath the mountain in swirling mists, I realised we had enjoyed a clear window of opportunity. Many tourists  must get up there and suffer the disappointment of not being able to see anything.